The Birds and the Beasts
by greysnyper
Summary: The real crime isn't betraying your friends...


_You know how dangerous Dr. Chang is._

Seven quick strikes landed in blurred succession across the face of  
the bag. A drop propelled by more than gravity left him seemingly  
vanishing from the place he had been. A heavy boot snapped forth in an  
arc. Backflip back to his feet and out came the bo staff. He delivered  
several sharp grunts as he brought the bar to the center of the bag.  
To the sides. Sweeping the shining silver below to swipe invisible legs  
out from under it. The sounds were the only indication of exhaustion.  
The bag shuddered beneath the assault and was granted a momentary stay  
while the staff twirled dangerously above, commanded by acrobatic  
fingers. It returned down, hard. The force invaded the leather lining  
of the bag, stuffing bleeding forth from the wound, the chain holding its victim  
rattled along the length it stretched to the ceiling.

_Xenothium?_

Punching bag deserted, he tossed the staff to the mat and initiated a  
series of backflips, allowing himself nothing less than perfect form.  
The arcs came to completion with a practised dodge from an unseen  
assailant; A side step and two rapid kicks. Squaring himself off,  
gauntlets clenched and three quick hopsteps preluded another lash of  
footwork; This time in the air and spinning. Three or maybe four  
invisible perpetrators down, he started sprinting towards the wooden  
ones.

_It is not a toy. What were you thinking?_

Splinters of wood were taking flight before he even appeared to have  
moved. Three were victimized and a fourth left untouched. Used as a  
hand hold for him to leap over. It, for its usefullness, was not  
untouched for long. Six became the tally of wooden targets destroyed.  
The seventh was thrown at two others, clamoring to the wall with  
hollow echoing cries. He danced around the third left standing,  
chopping a side from it. The remaining two he darted between. Watching  
the whole scene, Beast Boy was grateful these things weren't  
human.

In a catastrophe of wood shards, with his back to the door and the  
ruined bag, Robin slumped his shoulders and burned with a need for air.

_You were reckless and you could have gotten killed._

Shifting from foot to foot, Beast Boy wondered if it was wise to  
announce his presence. The last time he had interrupted Robin in his  
training, it had taken a week for the treads of Boy Wonder's foot to  
become less visible on his face. But even the Changeling noted the  
contrasting ferocity Robin had taken on with this session. He cleared  
his throat anyhow, grasping in advance for something to say.

_What's worse, you could have killed one of your friends._

"Batman found out, huh?"

The look Beast Boy received made him wish he had considered something  
else. Contrived a lie perhaps, about needing help with some math  
equations. Or maybe he could convince the other that he was only  
planning on washing the towels in the gym. Robin turned to retrieve  
one such towel, sidestepping boards and not making a sound.

Beast Boy chewed his lower lip and took a few steps also, bringing him  
closer to the mats. "Cause I came to apologize for freaking out on you  
over breakfast. I really don't mind if you find tofu crepes totally  
disgusting," No reaction from Robin. "Or if you're not hungry cause,  
well, you know..." His green hand softly touched upon the table  
adjacent to the start of the softer red floor. It was cluttered with  
Robin's other set of gauntlets, a couple forty pound weights, a  
jump-rope, and a bottle of water.

Silence continued its reign as the Titans' leader groped around the  
shelves with the terry-cloth wrapped roughly over his shoulders. He  
pointedly kept his back to the Changeling. The message was clear,  
almost as much as it would have been had Robin turned and screamed it.

To go away. To lay off. To get lost. Leave him alone.

"That's a mistake I'll never make." Beast Boy told himself.

Robin, perhaps having heard the muttered words, did finally turn his  
attention from the far walls of the shelf. He looked at Beast Boy, at  
the bottle on the table.

"I screwed up, ok? You've reminded me. Now let it go."

_It doesn't look like you've learned anything._

Beast boy flinched at those words. Part of him did long to retreat.  
Stammer an excuse and take off. He willed himself to stay. Reached  
over and took the water bottle. If Boy Wonder wanted it...

In his approach, the Changeling likened Robin to a storm. This time  
his feet over the wooden debris sent boards clattering angrily.  
Robin's hands were knotted into the fabric of the towel so tightly,  
Beast Boy was sure that within those gloves, the fingers were white.  
The masked eyes stared down, sharing what tiny secrets only with  
the mat.

This might have been a good thing, Beast Boy guiltily thought. For the  
only emotion Robin seemed close to right now was unchecked rage.

_Not from me._

They were almost face to face. Beast Boy gripped the bottle, measuring  
the weight of the liquid and trying his damndest not to fidget. And  
Robin was close enough now that Beast Boy could feel the heat  
resonating off from him. Animalistic senses catching the overpowering scent of sweat. How hard had be been training?

"You don't get it," Robin said when it became apparent that the bottle  
was not about to change hands. That the silence had need of a voice.  
It would have to settle for something wistful, vindicative, and  
defiant.

Beast Boy snapped his head up. "No, Robin. I do get it. You don't."

His challenge contrasted the others' tone with grave seriousness.  
Their eyes could do nothing at this but meet. Beast Boy continued,  
"You took some chances, decided not to trust us, and in the end things  
somehow worked out. Lucky you! But I think your biggest screw up is  
what you're doing now. Sometimes things don't work out and you have no  
other choice but to sulk by yourself...because your friends won't come  
back. They can't!"

It wasn't listed on Beast Boy's super-dude resume (which he had). It  
wasn't even brought up around pizza or tofu crepes. It, like the fate  
of Terra, just wasn't talked about. But Robin had enough background on  
his team to make even Raven paler. And he knew about the fated Doom  
Patrol.

_Not from your friends._

"Gar," it was obvious where this was leading. The reasoning was  
indubitable. Robin dropped his voice and grabbed at some patience. If he  
had to deal with an irate or hurt Beast Boy...

But the Changeling wasn't angry. "I'll bet my next slice of pizza that  
it's hard living with a mentor and being a side-kick. None of us do  
that. And we don't have to answer to someone like Batman. But we are a  
team. And we're still together. If you want some advice, the best  
there is-is to not take your friends for granted. I know what that is  
like."

Robin had never seen him so serious. A green arm offered the plastic container.

_Not from your team._

A green glove accepted it, and Robin sighed. "He...was so mad.," he  
offered, pondering the bottle. "He said I was rash, dangerous and that  
I almost destroyed the Titans." Beast Boy, attention granted only to  
Robin, wondered what was suddenly so interesting in the bottle label,  
or about Robin's boots. "I was convinced of the same things. So..."

It might have been the first time in history, past and future, where  
Robin looked for direction from Beast Boy.

"So...," Changeling advised, "You start by having supper with us, give  
me a hand with my math (in which we actually don't do any math), help  
Cy fix the dent I, uh, made on his car, take Star to the 'mall of  
shopping', and um, listen to Raven read some poems or something. 'Cause  
you never know when you'll lose that chance."

Robin had to admit, he had also never seen Beast Boy so deep before either.

"Now, how bout a hug?"

"A...hug?" The turn about in the mood was enough to further confuse  
the Boy Wonder. Beast Boy had the hugest grin possible.

"There are other ways to get rid of stress besides wrecking our  
training equipment," Gar spoke, all in the process of growing more  
bristled and more...up.

Robin tilted his gaze over the grizzly.

"Batman not let you have toys?" the bear asked, possibly grinning some  
sort of bear grin.

_You need to learn to grow up._

"Oh sure," Robin drawled. "You look just like Timmy, my old circus  
teddy. All safe and cute and small..."

Yet before the grizzly could put together another sarcastic rebuttal,  
Robin was drawing into the massive arms of the beast, thankful that he  
couldn't break the Changeling in this shape.

And it held. Possibly because Robin couldn't imagine a real animal to  
smell like syprup. And it did help, he had to admit. Zip-lining  
left him free, this confined him in safety. And Gar could think of  
the hugs he still had left, barring those lost on Doom Patrollers and  
Terra.

_You won't get a second chance._

They had each other.

* * *

Author's Note: This was my response to a Robin/Beast Boy challenge. It's an okay fic, but not what I originally wanted. I drew upon some other fics I have read. Ginzai's "Honor Amongst Theives" to be particular. And I played with the comic version of Beast Boy. Not many people do.

Hope you like.


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